Tropical Storm Jebi Approaching Hainan Island

Tropical Storm Jebi, located 675 km south of Hong Kong, continues drifting toward Hainan Island at around 6 kt. Tropical advisories have been posted: Signal 3 for Hong Kong, T1 for Macau, Blue Typhoon Warning for Hainan Province, and Tropical Storm Warning for portions of northern Vietnam. Of course, get the latest information for your specific area from your local meteorological agency.

Track forecast is pretty simple at this stage. An area of high pressure east of Taiwan continues to block the storm from moving due north. Rather, Jebi continues northwestward toward a weakness provided by a trough of low pressure over central China. Most models and all the regional meteorological agencies agree with landfall along eastern Hainan Island on Friday evening followed by landfall near or northeast of Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday evening.

Microwave imagery suggests winds are strengthening in the southwestern quadrant of the storm and based on a 0450Z OSCAT pass and multispectral imagery, 35-40 kt (10-min average) should be expected with further strengthening prior to landfall. The main threat, however, will be heavy rain in saturated areas of southeastern China and northern Vietnam providing flooding conditions.